End of semester

We are almost to the end of our first semester. Let me just explain to you guys how good God has been to all of us: He has kept us safe wherever we go, he gave us an awesome transportation dude, Wilber (who is basically apart of our family now). He has let us witness to a lot of people, as well as invite them to church (The church was PACKED last Sunday we went from like 45 people to around 65). On top of that He has let our whole group become better and better at speaking in Spanish, our whole group gets along extremely well (although once in a while we do get on each others nerves - but that happens). He gave us an AMAZING cook, Carmen. Carmen has been a blessing to all of us in too many ways to describe. Oh, and Cam the man. One of the most Godliest leaders we could have asked for. He answers all our questions about the Bible, and leads some of the greatest Bible studies I have been apart of. We are so blessed, and so thankful. It has really been something else to see God work.
We just celebrated Thanksgiving. and I really missed my family. It wasn't the same with out them, of course, but I am so thankful to have them supporting me and Parker while we are here. We ate an incredible thanksgiving dinner with some of our church family. Just a year ago (I think) El Salvador adopted black Friday, so the malls were pretty crowded. I remember I went to go get candy for some pinatas we have and it took me forever! Friday night we went to a graduation ceremony for a person from our church. It was really fun!
One thing I remember myself thinking when we first got here was - "Why don't we go pass out Bible verses or just do something during our free time other that just sit around." I was trying to think of something to do. Basically tell as many people about Jesus as I could, in other words. And, while this is not bad, I have learned more specifically that Jesus called us to make disciples - not run around everywhere. Make disciples. Hmmm how can we do that? Answer: build relationships. Address people's needs. Put yourself in their situation. 1 Corinthians 9:20. Our group has immersed ourselves in the El Salvadoreno culture and God has let us impact them and have them open our hearts to us. In the orphanages we get to play soccer with the kids each time we go (Soccer - thats all we do, except for sometimes we eat limes and then chuck them at people still playing soccer). Sometime last week Thomas had an idea to take a trip to the slums (and I mean shacks, dirt floor, unbelievable, and very humbling).Oh, and the slums are right across from 3 huge malls. Slums next to huge name brands. Something doesn't make sense. So off we go -  Parker, Thomas, 2 of the girls, and me. (later we figure our that the slums are gang controlled and police have nothing to to with the slums because they are too dangerous). We go in and ask this on later (probably in her 20s) if she needed anything for her family - food, clothing - anything. She said yes, and made a list for us to go get for her. Word spread around in the slums pretty quick that we were getting necesities for them and eventually we had about 5 other people giving us a list. Long story short - they came to walmart with us and they got everything they needed. And I mean everything. It was awesome. (oh, and parker and me got to zoom around their kids in shopping carts, that was definitely my favorite part.) So, afterwards we invited them to church. (We usually invited people to church, even if it's a random person we meet that day, and usually only a couple have showed up - so weren't too sure if they were going to come). Well they came. And they brought their friends too. And their friends brought their kids. It was awesome to see how one small act of kindness (like addressing someones needs) turned out to be a blessing to the church. I was so excited. How awesome God is. This was last Sunday when they came. I asked the them if they were coming again, and they said yes! So I can't wait to see them again tomorrow.
So other than that we are at our regular ministries. They keep on getting better and better since we are getting to know everyone better the later on it gets. Sooner or later the first semester will be over! Time has gone by so fast... Parker and I are not coming back in December. We are staying here with Mario's (our pastor) family and Lane and Holly, two of the other girls on our team. We have an opportuity to work at Pizza Hut, or help a small little restaurante serve food,and even some food stores in the mall Mario said he could hook us up with. I don't know what I am going to do, but I know that I am going to be a cobrador (bus boy) for sure. It is the absolute funnest thing to down here. Is it dangerous? Duh. But I love it so much. Parker and me have some new buddies in route 42 and they said whenever we wanna help we can give them a call. I am so excited. They even gave me a free ride when I wasn't working! I feel called to witness to them and people at the point (the point is where the buses rest and the drives and cobradors eat and chill). Mostly all the points for the different routes are controlled by gangs and the buses have to pay a protection fee to the gangs. It is a little dangerous, but I know I am called to go there and invite them to church and talk to them about Jesus. So that's what I will be doing over december for the most part when our group returns for Christmas. I am so excited.
Thats about it.

Think about this:

Romans 13:10

Romans 2:11

Closer to Jesus

Wow, I haven't wrote in a while - 2 months actually. A lot has happened. The rainy season is over so its a little cooler, the election has come and passed, God has brought us closer as a family, and many other things.
This past week was parents week and Thomas' and Mitch's moms came, and Allison parents came. It was such an awesome week we were able to do a lot of things and take a break (somewhat) from our regular schedule).

In fact, this past Tuesday when we were at Metamorphosis a person got saved. (I was wrong when I thought everyone at the prison ministry was already saved. Apparently they just have to have really good behaviour to work there). Hector had been told about Jesus many times, but this past Tuesday Mario (our pastor) talked to him and Hector decided to commit his life to Jesus. How awesome. However, there are a couple others there who still haven't made this decision. So please pray for Hector as he is a new believer, and any others at that need to trust Jesus as their only way.

The other week we had the opportunity to help set up for an organization called Johnny and Friends (Founded by my hero Johhny Erikson Tada) We helped decorate and stuff like that. We also blew up a lot of pool inflatables. That was exhausting. The cool thing was we were at the beach though -Costa de Sol. The beach soccer team for El Salvador was there and we asked if we could practice with them and they let us. This was awesome! This team got 2nd place in the World Cup.

My favorite part here is at night. I usually go up on the roof and just stare at the stars, praying and listening to what God has to say. Our team has a lot of conversations about Jesus and we pray on the roof and all the good stuff like that happens on the roof at night. I love it. Something we have all learned recently is too ask God to tell us ways we can grow closer to Him. God wants us to come to Him and seek Him, and when we do He will seek us (Verse somewhere in James). If you are continually seeking God then you need to be asking Him ways you can grow closer to Him. What if there is a sin in our lives that we are blind to? What if God has been waiting for us to come to Him asking how we can grow closer to Him? What if He has been waiting to reveal something to us that is hindering our walk with Him? Remember that God wants ALL of you, and that you are as close to God as you choose to be (I learned this in my devotion I didn't make it up). You have control over the things that you chose to do each day, and when we chose to do something that either doesn't honor God, or something distracting that takes away from your quiet time, that is you not choosing to be as close to God as you can be.

December is coming up soon, and that means all of our our team is going back home for a month except for Me, Parker, Holly, and Lane. During December the four of us will be staying at the same house and Mario and his family will move in for the month with us. On Christmas we are planning on going down to the city to serve the homeless and people who don't have any gifts. I can't wait.

So - for all the people that think El Salvador is "so dangerous," it's not. Although they have riot police here almost everywhere, the trouble you find here you can find anywhere. "The safest place to be is the center of God's will." I have no idea who that quote is from.

Love you guys!

First real Week

This week is the week we get in the full swing of activities. We are having such a great time with everyone down here!

Monday: We had our weekly devotional from 9:30-10:30 in the morning, and since the job situation hasn't worked out yet (we probably aren't going to get one) we ended up going to the market and walmart to by everything we need and ended up resting at the house for the rest of the day, and watching a movie at night.

Tuesday we went to the prison and helped out with a ministry called Metamorfosis. We helped make shoes, played soccer, and went swimming, all day till about 3ish. Awesome thing is that we did all these activities with people who once were apart of violent gangs and had committed horrible crimes in their past. We had worship with them too. What an experience - to worship with people who were once so lost, and now saved. Tuesday night 3 of us went to a papusaria, and we ordered 3 drinks, 3 papusas, and 3 tacos. ALL of this only cost 4.95 total! Unbelievable. I know where I'm eating from now on.

Wednesday was the first morning of our Spanish classes, from 9-12. It wasn't bad, but I'm sure it'll get harder. After this we ate, and headed over to the same house we went to last week to watch the Barcelona/Real Madrid soccer game. Then we headed home and rested.

Thursday we went to orphanage about 30 minutes away after we had our Spanish class from 9-12 in the morning. We were in able to see all the kids there after they had just got back from school. They have a chicken house and a garden. It was very cool to see how an orphanage operated without receiving funds from the government. Really if you think about it the government doesn't play a major role in funding an orphanage - God does - and that's all this orphanage has, but then again, He is all they need. We ended up throwing paper airplanes into a fan with the boys at the orphanage and then later we played soccer. After this we went to go get tacos again, and now I'm here writing this blog.

Tomorrow we are going have Spanish class from the same time again, and then we are going to buy food again for the week.

Saturday we are planning on going to the beach again.

I feel like I write a lot of stuff that doesn't matter. If you do read this, make sure you pray that God will bring a wave of love over everyone we interact with - weather it's at the local pizza hut or weather we are doing our actual ministry work. Truth is - we are supposed to be in ministry all the time. Pray that God will be a light in us and for us not to forget what we are actually down here for - to be a light to others! Pray that people see us and want what we have. We have such a great opportunity to impact people down here each and every minute of the day.

So, above is more or less our daily schedule. Pray each day for us! You know what we are going to be each and everyday. Pray that God prepares everyone's hearts for his love and that the language barrier wont be a problem. His love translates over everything!

This is my last post for a while - Much love!!!
-Andrew

First week

Here's an overview of what we did the first week ladies.

Sunday: We went to church at 9am and the church was called La Iglesia. Which means the church! Afterwards we all went to a huge SIT DOWN pizza hut. Never knew these existed. Pizza is different here, but in a better way. After this we headed back to the house and rested for a couple minutes, then Me Parker Mitch Thomas Grace Cameron and Holly all went to play soccer about a 1/2 mile away. We brought 2 balls and ended up giving away one to one of the kids that played with us. Right when we arrived at the field a couple kids joined our game. About ten minutes later we had a 8 on 8 game with lots of locals watching! I felt like a professional. After soccer we ate dinner around 6:30, and then we worshiped and went over our devotional. We are going to be studying the book of Romans - verse by verse. Awesome first day!

Monday: Woke up around 8ish but some of the team decided to go on a run around 6ish. NOT ME! I was waaay too tired. Around 9:30 a lady named Isabel came from Exido (which is the orphanage we will be helping out at every Thursday came by and gave us an introductory of what we will be doing. She was the nicest lady! She explained how most of the kids in the orphanage where either just left there or dropped off there by there parents in a more formal way. All of the kids there range from 3 to 18, and once they turn 18 years old they have the option of staying or leaving. Most of the kids in the orphanage have either been physically or sexually abused, or have come from parents who just don't know how to take care of their children. Listen to this: The lady, Isabel, from the orphanage told us that El Salvador doesn't have good judgement in the laws they pass specifically laws that deal with orphans. Sometimes children are taken away from the parents (who abuse them or just dont take care of them) by the government and then placed in the orphanage. However, if a parents choose to "go to court" with the situation, the government almost always puts the children back in the hands of their parents where they are back in the same situation they started in. Some parents even use there children to beg for money on the streets, the lady explained. These kids just can't catch a break! So, if you would pray that God provides a way in all this mess, that would be great. Pray specifically for better decision making in the El Salvadorian government when in comes to decisions made about orphans. The orphanage is actually not even funded by the government! 26 people work there, and this is their full time job Wait, whaaaat? If you would also pray that God will provide for the orphanage, its workers, and bless them. There is a total of 68 kids, if I remember correctly. Anyways, after this Isabel left, and then we ate (we have our own cook, and her food is amazing!!),walked to the bus route, and we visited 3 malls. These malls where almost right next to each other. We walked to all of them. This took around the whole day.

Tuesday: Our Spanish teach came and met us around 9am and afterwards we headed of the the plaza to get our phones for use between our team. We were going to head to the volcano after this, but it was too cloudy so we headed downtown and visited the local markets. There were places everywhere on the street. I got a El Salvadorian soccer team uniform for around 15 bucks later to figure out that the pants are light blue and the shirt was a slight bit darker. Hmmmm. After this we headed back home and headed out to the soccer field again and played for about 2 hours.

Wednesday: We met the pastor who will be teaching our Bible studies Monday morning. After this we did head to the volcano and it was pretty amazing! We were very high up in there air over looking the volcano and the city. We ate at MacDonalds, came home and then played soccer for about 2 and a half hours.

Tomorrow we are headed to watch the soccer game at a house of someone who goes to La Iglesia. Friday we are headed to the beach to surf, and probably the same for Saturday.

Next week is when our regular schedule kicks in.

Thanks for your prayers!

Here

We are finally here! How great is our God. He gave us a safe travel, no problems and everything worked out perfectly. Plane ride was 3 hours and 1 minute. Exactly. We live in such a nice house - one big enough for all 13 of us! It is right in the heart of a neighbor hood that looks like a great place to meet the locals. Hopefully we can reach out to our neighbors. Play soccer with them, invite them over for dinner, and witness to them.

We actually live about 1 mile away from Wendy's, McDonald's, Pollo Campero (chicken camper - hmmm), and 2 Pizza huts right across from each other. I don't know what to think about that. Our leader Mario said the soccer stadium near us has games every weekend so I can't wait to go to some of those. This week we will be learning our regular routine so we won't be doing anything to serious. I can't wait to get things started - I am so excited!

The country is so nice. It is very very relaxed. Everyone waves to you, and there are wild animals (like cows, donkeys, and I though I saw a llama but they said it wasn't one). Everyone is very friendly and sociable. They love to just talk to you! I already got my picture taken with 4 locals that worked at the subway I ate after the plan ride. It's crazy how friendly people are.

More to come soon!

If you could pray that the team would get rested before things start rollin that would be great! We are all pooped from camping and the activities we did. Also pray that we are not distracted while we are down here.

Thanks-
Andrew

Another Update

First of all - I hate writing. HATE. So I hope that people actually read this, and are somewhat encouraged by what I post and actually pray for us while we are down there, and not just be like "oh, yeah, of course I'll pray," and then forget about it. (Don't underestimate the power of prayer cutie pies)

We leave in 4 days! Unbelievable. It's exciting, but also different. Its not like college -we can't come back time to time and visit our family and friends. It just hit me that Parker and I are leaving everything we have ever had, and really, ever known. At least we are going to get a break for school.

I didn't realize how much I would miss everyone. This last week reality has set in.I'm gonna miss ALOT of people. Mom (strived for our best interest), Dad(great sense of humor), little bros (troublemakers) Victor, Dennis, my two lovely princess sisters (ha) Helen, and Sarah. And all my close friends. (I guess you can say you know who you are)...

I pray God changes our lives while down there as well as the people we work with while down there.

Here is a post I forgot to post in mid June-ish. Oops.

Wow, 30 days away! I hope time doesn't fly while we are down there so we can absorb what God has in store for us. I have been reading through the book of James, 1st Timothy, and Ecclesiastes over and over and over again in order to prepare myself for any trials that I will face before and during our trip. I am about to start on Corinthians, and then try to start on the Gospels.

I find myself thinking what a awesome opportunity we have in front of us. How can we use it in the best way possible? Are we going to use this freedom for Jesus, or abuse our freedom. Yeah, I've heard a lot about freedom - which we will have a lot of while down in El Salvador. I (as well as everyone else) have a choice to make while down there. Are we going to chase after wind, or be blessed while we preserve under the various trials we encounter while down there. Man we are gonna be under a lot of trial down there I can already tell. All the devil wants is for us to sit down and stay right where we are at - I just pray we are all prepared for this.

This is just a short post and probably my last until we all head down, but if you read this, just pray that while we prepare and are down there:

We preserve under trial
James 1:12
and strive to honor God, and not merely chase wind
Ecclesiastes 1:14

We are about 45 days away from packing up and leaving! God has been so good helping us with our funding for this mission trip. We are so close to our goal and know that everything remains in God's hands. Before we leave to El Salvador to serve, we are going on a three day camping trip and so we can grow as a team, and better yet, a family. I know God has a lot in store for each and everyone of us going on this trip - for if we all devote our lives to God, he will invest in us through countless ways.

I have a couple personal goals (that are now public) I want to accomplish. When we return for El Salvador I would love to be able to say I have completed these goals:
1) Most importantly, I want my relationship to grow as much as it can with the Lord while down there. I hope that different events and circumstances will be able to humble me and break me down before God, so that I become I better servant. I really pray that God can use me in a big way while down there, and better yet - the rest of my life.
2) I reaaallly want to master a second language! By the time I return I want to have perfected the Spanish language so I can start to learn another (hopefully).
3) I want to impact people in every way I can. I want God to use me in every way possible to impact other peoples lives just so they can know him.

I can't wait to start helping in the orphanage while we are down there! I am excited to just see an orphans eyes light up to know that someone cares about them enough to spend time with them. It will bring back good memories from the orphanages in Ukraine!

So, this is my blog. I've never written anything I guess, until now. I will be keeping this blog updated A LOT while we are down there - I will NOT be updating my facebook cause I do not like facebook all that much and it would be too distracting.

I pray that by reading this blog you will be encouraged to grow your walk in Christ as well as encourage others to do the same.

Much love!!
-Andrew

"But one who looks intently at the perfect law of liberty and abide by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does." James 1:25